- Sudan's constitutional court has ruled in favour of Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) splinter group on Sunday, saying the south Sudan government can not bar the party from contesting the April's first multi-party elections, the first in 24 years.

The faction party leader, Lam Akol has complained that his party leaders had been arrested and harrassed in the south, where the SPLM dominates government.

The tensions are reported to have heightened in Sudan ahead of April's national elections and the 2011 referendum that would decide the fate of the southern autonomous government.

Mr Akol has accused SPLM of endemic corruption and being undemocratic. Mr Akol is nominated by an alliance of southern political parties for the presidency of South Sudan, where he will run against SPLM head Salva Kiir.

Meanwhile, SPLM will contest key governor posts in the 26 states in the nation’s historic elections due in April.

The elections were provided for in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 between north and south Sudan to end a devastating 22-year civil war that cost the lives of two million people.

For the presidential election of semi-autonomous South Sudan, the SPLM chose the current president of the region Salva Kiir, a former rebel commander who is also first vice president of all Sudan.

South Sudan has been plagued by tribal violence which claimed 2,500 lives last year alone.

Sudan's north-south had been at each other’s throats over the issue of ethnicity, oil in the Abyei region, and religion. The civil war has claimed 2 million lives, and forced over 4 million from their homes and destabilised much of east Africa.

afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.

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afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.

afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.